DEVELOPERS need to allocate more space to ensure commuter safety and promote inclusive mobility, mobility advocates said.
“The land use plan only allocates, as per our HLURB (Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board) guidelines, 30% for open spaces for a big parcel of land,” Jose Ramon Carunungan, principal architect at Carunungan & Partners Co., told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a briefing Thursday.
“I think we have to look into increasing (open spaces) so we can prioritize pedestrians instead of vehicles” he said, citing Presidential Decree No. 1216.
“A proper land use plan will also ensure that important services are accessible and within a reasonable commuting distance,” Move As One Coalition Co-convenor Robert Y. Siy, Jr. said after the briefing.
“There are many different approaches to working out a proper land use arrangement, but what’s important is that there should be a right fit between transportation and land use.”
Some 94% of Filipinos commute, while only 6% own four-wheeled vehicles, according to a 2022 survey by the Social Weather Stations.
Commuters face inconveniences like narrow sidewalks, car-centric infrastructure, and the lack of inclusive mobility infrastructure especially for the elderly and persons with disabilities (PWD).
About 35% of all fatal crashes in Metro Manila involve pedestrians, according to Antonio Pagulayan, who heads the traffic education unit of the Metro Manila Development Authority.
“In road safety, we do not call these catastrophic events ‘accidents’ or ‘mishaps,’ because a road crash occurs as a result of risks ignored and bad decisions made,” Dinna Louise C. Dayao, communications consultant at Move As One Coalition, said at the briefing.
The Philippines loses about $11 billion from deaths and injuries caused by road crashes, the Asian Transport Observatory reported.
Mr. Siy also called Metro Manila’s footbridges “hostile infrastructure,” citing the recent death of a 75-year-old PWD who died of a brain hemorrhage after slipping on the stairs of a footbridge.
Maureen Ava Mata, accessibility and inclusivity co-convenor at the Move As One Coalition, said inclusivity is an afterthought during fatal accidents involving pedestrians.
She also called for the full implementation of the Accessibility Law to ensure PWDs have more mobility options. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz